War in Ancient India c7.s3.32

c7.s3.32

From this we may conclude that in ancient India ships were employed in warfare at least as early as the *Rg Vedic* times, though only on a scale which would appear insignificant to-day what with U-boats and submarines. But it is an incontrovertible fact that there was a naval department in Mauryan times. We have the testimony of Megasthenes that the navy was under a special officer called the Superintendent of Navigation. This official was in turn controlled by the Admiralty department. The officer whom Megasthenes refers to as Superintendent of Navigation is called *Nāvādhyakṣa* as already seen, in the *Arthaśāstra*. The Greek accounts bear testimony to the fact that navigation had attained a very high development at the time of Alexander’s invasion, for we are told that the invader was able to secure a fleet from the Punjab at short notice. The *Arthaśāstra* lays down some healthy regulations relating to navigation. Vessels which gave trouble or were bound for the enemy’s country, or transgressed the regulations of port towns were to be destroyed.¹²²